The settlement at the dam crest induced by earthquake loading is an important design parameter widely used to evaluate the seismic performance of dams. Two-dimensional nonlinear dynamic analyses were performed to calculate the dam crest settlement of earth core rockfill dams (ECRDs). The numerical model was first validated against centrifuge test measurements. Comparisons showed that the numerical model provided reasonable estimates of the measured response. A series of dynamic numerical analyses were performed for a wide range of ground motions. The calculated settlements were revealed to compare well with field recordings of dam crest settlements. The settlements were also plotted against ground motion parameters, including free-field surface peak ground acceleration (PGA), peak ground velocity (PGV), Arias intensity (Ia), and moment magnitude (M). Predictive equations for the crest settlement were also presented. It wes demonstrated that PGA provided a good estimate of the settlement, but Ia provided the most favorable fit according to the calculations. Additionally, multiple parameters models were also presented to enhance the accuracy of the predictions.

We develop liquefaction resistance curves, which represent the correlation between cyclic resistance ratio (CRR) and number of cycles (N) to estimate the build-up of residual excess pore pressure from simple shear tests performed for this study and also from published literature. The liquefaction curve is calculated from two models. The comparisons show that one of the models is not reliable because it underestimates CRR. The scatter of the data is shown to be significantly reduced when CRR is normalized to the resistance ratio at N = 15 (CRRN=15). Use of the normalization is particularly useful because CRR can be easily estimated from field tests. From normalization, we propose mean, upper, and lower curves. The corresponding design equation and its parameters are also proposed. We believe that the proposed curves can be used for effective stress site response analyses and evaluation of the seismic performance of port structures.